Muhammad Farhan (born 25 February 1970) is an Indonesian politician from the

NasDem Party The NasDem Party () or the National Democratic Party () is a political party in Indonesia. It is partly funded by media baron Surya Paloh who founded the similarly named organization, National Democrats (). Despite this, and logo similarity, Nasi ...

and former television and radio presenter who is currently served as the 18th

mayor of Bandung The mayor of Bandung is an elected politician who is responsible of governing the Bandung, city of Bandung. The first mayor of Bandung was E.A. Maurenbrecher, who governed the city during the Dutch East Indies, Dutch colonisation period from 1906 ...

since February 2025. He had previously been a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

between 2019 and 2024 representing Bandung and

Cimahi Cimahi () is a landlocked city located immediately west of the larger city of Bandung, in West Java Province, Indonesia and within the Bandung Metropolitan Area. It covers an area of 42.43 km2 and had a population at the 2010 Census of 541 ...

. Born in

Bogor Bogor City (), or Bogor (, ), is a landlocked city in the West Java, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.

, Farhan spent his childhood in

Bandung Bandung is the capital city of the West Java province of Indonesia. Located on the island of Java, the city is the List of Indonesian cities by population, fourth-most populous city and fourth largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabay ...

where he began to work at a radio station. He then moved to

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

and worked for private radio and TV stations until the 2010s, when he retired from media and began to enter politics. Joining Nasdem, he was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2019 legislative election, and while he failed to win reelection in 2024, he was instead elected mayor of

in the 2024 mayoral election.

Early life

Muhammad Farhan was born in

on 25 February 1970 to Yahid Hamzah and Nani Rubiyani. He is of mixed Acehnese– Sundanese descent. He studied in

, completing elementary school in 1982, middle school in 1985, and high school in 1988. He studied economics at

Padjadjaran University Padjadjaran University (; ), abbreviated as UNPAD) is a public university located in Sumedang Regency and Bandung, which is the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia. It was established on 11 September 1957. UNPAD has gained the most appl ...

and received his bachelor's degree in 1995. During his time in Bandung, he briefly worked as an announcer at a radio station, and also became a vegetables supplier to

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

to fund his studies.

Media career

After graduating from Padjadjaran, Farhan began to work as a radio presenter. He moved to Jakarta's Mustang FM and Hard Rock FM, then to . In 2001, Farhan along with co-presenter

Indy Barends Mendya Barends Sarmanella (born 15 January 1972), better known as Indy Barends, is an Indonesian radio personality, television host, Television presenter, presenter, humorist, and actress. She began her career as a radio DJ, and rose in popularit ...

continually broadcast from Hard Rock FM for 32 hours to commemorate the station's fifth anniversary, becoming the Indonesian national records, and they held it until broadcast nonstop for 34 hours in 2019. Farhan also worked as a television presenter, working for

RCTI RCTI (abbreviated from ''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia'') is an Indonesian free-to-air television broadcaster. It is best known for its soap operas, celebrity bulletins, news, and sports programmes. It was first launched in 1989, origi ...

, SCTV, and

Indosiar PT Indosiar Visual Mandiri, commonly known as Indosiar, is an Indonesian over-the-air television broadcaster, established on 19 July 1991, with test broadcasts commencing on 18 December 1994, and officially launching on 11 January 1995. It ha ...

between 1996 and 2002. Later, Farhan joined

Trans TV PT Televisi Transformasi Indonesia, commonly known as Trans TV, is an Indonesian Terrestrial television, free-to-air television broadcaster based in South Jakarta that was launched on December 15, 2001, and is owned by Chairul Tanjung. Programm ...

, where he was involved with the ''

Extravaganza An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of Victorian burlesque, and pantomime, in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. The term is derived from th ...

'' variety show. In March 2006, Farhan moved to ANTV, which offered him higher pay, and then to tvOne. At tvOne, Farhan presented the ''Tatap Muka'' talkshow, which began in 2008. He stated that he was retiring from presenting in 2015, although he still took on MC work in events. In 2016, Farhan returned to presenting, joining Metro TV and presenting the ''Nite Time'' program. Farhan have also played supporting roles in the several films, namely '' Jakarta Undercover'' (2007), ''

Crush Crush may refer to: * Infatuation or limerence, the romantic attraction to another person * Puppy love, feelings of love, romance, or infatuation felt by young people Crush may also refer to: Film * Crush (1972 film), ''Crush'' (1972 film), a H ...

'' (2014), ''

Dilan 1990 ''Dilan 1990'' is a 2018 Indonesian coming of age romantic drama film. It is based on the novel ''Dilan: Dia adalah Dilanku Tahun 1990'' (Dilan: He is My Dilan in 1990) by Pidi Baiq. The film stars Iqbaal Ramadhan and Vanesha Prescilla as the m ...

'' (2018), and ''

Dilan 1991 ''Dilan 1991'' is a 2019 Indonesian language romantic drama film. Like its prequel, the film is also based on Dilan novel series written by Pidi Baiq, this is from ''Dilan Bagian Kedua: Dia adalah Dilanku tahun 1991'' (Dilan Part Two: He is My D ...

'' (2019).

Politics

Between 2009 and 2016, Farhan was involved at

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung (), also known in acronym as Persib (), is an Indonesian professional football club based in Bandung, West Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top tier of Indonesian football. Founded in 1919 as ...

, and during the period prospective Bandung mayor

Ridwan Kamil Mochamad Ridwan Kamil (born 4 October 1971), alternatively Kang Emil or RK, is an Indonesian architect and politician who was the 15th Governor of West Java, the largest (most populous) province of Indonesia. He was also the List of mayors of ...

considered picking Farhan as a running mate in his 2013 mayoral bid. While Farhan did not take his offer, he explored running as mayor in 2017, but withdrew his bid due to poor polling. He later joined Ridwan Kamil's campaign team in the 2018 West Java gubernatorial election. In 2018, he joined the

Nasdem Party The NasDem Party () or the National Democratic Party () is a political party in Indonesia. It is partly funded by media baron Surya Paloh who founded the similarly named organization, National Democrats (). Despite this, and logo similarity, Nasi ...

to run in the

2019 Indonesian legislative election General elections were held in Indonesia on 17 April 2019. For the first time in the country's history, the president, the vice president, members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and members of local legislative bodies were elected ...

. In the election, he ran for a

(DPR) seat representing West Java's 1st electoral district covering Bandung and

, securing 52,033 votes and winning a seat. He was appointed to DPR's First Commission. Farhan failed to secure a second term in his 2024 reelection bid, with Nasdem winning no seats in the district.

Mayor of Bandung

After the legislative election, Farhan registered to run as mayor of Bandung in the 2024 Bandung mayoral election. Erwin, a Bandung city legislator and chairman of the

National Awakening Party The National Awakening Party (; , PKB), is an Islam-basedAl-Hamdi, Ridho. (2017). ''Moving towards a Normalised Path: Political Islam in Contemporary Indonesia''. JURNAL STUDI PEMERINTAHAN (JOURNAL OF GOVERNMENT & POLITICS). Vol. 8 No. 1, Febru ...

(PKB)'s local branch, became his running mate. Aside from Nasdem and PKB, the pair was also endorsed by the Labour Party and

Gelora Party Indonesian People's Wave Party ( Indonesian: ), commonly abbreviated as Gelora (Passion), is a political party in Indonesia. The party establishment was declared on 10 November 2019, and its political party status was recognised by the Ministry o ...

. Farhan and Erwin won the election with 523,000 votes (44.6%) in the a four-way race, winning in 23 out of 30 districts of the city. They were sworn in on 20 February 2025. As mayor, Farhan claimed that he would avoid new "monumental" construction projects, stating that he would focus on maintaining existing

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

buildings and infrastructure maintenance. Responding to flooding in May 2025, he requested that the city's inhabitants living on riverbanks voluntarily relocate.

Personal life

He married Aryatri in September 1998, and the couple had two children. His eldest son, Muhammad Ridzky Khalid, died in 2015 from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farhan, Muhammad 1970 births Living people People from Bogor Nasdem Party politicians Mayors of Bandung Members of the House of Representatives (Indonesia), 2019 Padjadjaran University alumni Indonesian television presenters Indonesian radio presenters Acehnese people Sundanese people Indonesian Muslims